Gale-force winds batter power lines, topple house on Herring Cove Road, in pictures

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METRO/Jeff Harper
Police put up caution tape after a house under construction blew over damaging another neighbouring house and car on Thursday.

Warm, blustery weather led to power outages and mayhem throughout the Maritimes on the last day of January.

By 4:30 p.m., more than 20,000 Nova Scotia Power customers had lost power because of damage caused by winds gusting to more than 100 km/hr.

NSP spokesperson David Rodenhiser said power crews were working to restore lines as quickly as possible, bearing their own safety in mind.

“When we get winds that strong, it sends trees into lines and that’s the problem we’re battling right now, and then we have to make sure our crews are safe when they’re up in the buckets fixing these lines,” he said.

Rodenhiser said the utility tracked the storm and had “all hands on deck” in anticipation of its impact.

The wind was so strong, it brought down a house under construction on Herring Cove Road, which damaged a car belonging to the next-door neighbour.

The sidewalks and bike lanes on the MacDonald Bridge were closed and high-sided vehicles were prohibited from using the MacKay Bridge.

Robie Street had to be closed because of construction scaffolding threatening to collapse and a portion of Cowie Hill Road was closed because of a flooding.

Halifax Regional Police Const. Pierre Bourdages said around 4:30 p.m. officers had responded to at least a dozen weather-related calls, including a car that had its windows smashed out by a metal barrier.

Temperatures at Halifax Stanfield soared to 12 degrees, eclipsing the previous record high for Jan. 31 of 8.3 degrees, set in 1974.